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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 3.8 million people a year die from the exposure to household air pollution. Poor indoor air quality has been linked to a range of illnesses, including asthma, pneumonia, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cardiovascular disease.
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You are more exposed to PM2.5 (tiny particles that are hazardous to human health when inhaled) cooking an omelette in your kitchen than standing on an average London roadside, one study has found. Another study found that cooking a Sunday roast or Thanksgiving dinner could produce higher levels of PM2.5s than are found on the streets of Delhi, one of the most polluted cities in the world. These particles posed a particular risk to the respiratory system, according to Marina Vance, an environmental engineer at the University of Colorado Boulder and her colleagues who conducted the study. Surprisingly the highest PM2.5 levels were detected when making breakfast.
This is why experts stress that people should always use the extractor fan or open a window when cooking. (Read more about the hidden risks of cooking your food).
We also use a lot of airborne chemicals in homes. They are embedded in the glues used in furniture as well as in paints, sealants and wood and building materials. There are also VOCs emitted from household cleaning products, personal care products like shower gels and fragrances, glues, inks and air fresheners. Individually, some VOCs are more harmful than others, although just about all react with oxides of nitrogen to create ground-level ozone.
“If you plug in an air freshener that’s constantly releasing VOCs, we know that they can react indoors to form particles,” says Carslaw. “If you told people they are being exposed to particles outdoors from vehicles they would get quite annoyed and probably want to avoid certain roads – but they would then happily plug in an air freshener not realising that they are also generating particles.” If you must use a scented cleaning product or air freshener, she says, do so in moderation and ventilate the room.
Vacuuming is also another source of indoor air pollution unless suitable high grade filters are used, and mopping with certain cleaning products can also increase the levels of airborne chemicals.
Other pollutants include mould spores and mould fragments resulting from damp and condensation. Combustion gases, including carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides, are also primarily released from heating stoves and gas hobs, although candles, oil lamps and tobacco smoking also contribute these. Although gases like nitrogen dioxide also occur outside, they can accumulate at far higher concentrations indoors.
“Cooking and cleaning are two of the main sources of indoor pollution,” says Carslaw. “When you cook, you generate nitrogen oxide and particles, which are the same pollutants that you find outdoors – just a different source.”
Radon, a naturally occurring, odourless, radioactive gas can also enter a builds through the ground, or cracks in walls, and can accumulate indoors if there is inadequate ventilation. In the US, radon exposure is the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers.
A report last year by indoor air pollution experts Airtopia found that nearly half of UK homes have high indoor air pollution. Data from 47 homes in Birmingham, London and the Home Counties of England found a fifth of homes showed more than double the amount of safe levels of formaldehyde. And 45% of homes had significantly increased levels of VOCs – with 28% of householders in homes with high VOC readings reporting multiple respiratory difficulties.
A recent academic study conducted by researchers in Portugal assessed the air quality in homes where newborns and their mothers were living. They found that three quarters of the homes experienced PM2.5 levels in excess of limits recommended by the WHO while 41% of the homes exceeded the recommended limits for larger PM10 pollutants.